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Artificial fixes for climate change nixed — for now

Expert reports advise further research but no action on geoengineering

CLIMATE COOLERS Schemes to cool the planet, including spewing reflective particles or synthetic clouds in the atmosphere, are worth more study but not ready for a debut, experts say.

National Academy of Sciences

Scientists shouldn’t tinker with Earth’s climate — at least not yet, two new analyses conclude.

Schemes to manually lower the planet’s temperature and dodge devastating effects of climate change are still too immature, risky and costly to try now, assert the studies, released February 10 by the National Academies. But scientists should keep working on those plans, the reports say.

The two main plans are to suck planet-warming carbon dioxide straight out of the air and — the dicier plan — to shield the globe from the sun’s hot rays by reflecting them back into space. Each plan is reviewed in a separate report produced by the National Research Council, which produces reports to advise the federal government.

Research into even the riskiest ideas needs to continue, says climate scientist Waleed Abdalati of the University of Colorado in Boulder, a coauthor of the reports. Humans may one day find themselves in a climate

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